Page:Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet.djvu/236

 beasts could talk, a leopard met an ass, and, though he had a strong inclination to kill him, he was impressed by his strength, of which he judged by his loud bray, so he offered him his friendship on condition that he would watch his den when he went out in search of prey.

One day the leopard sallied forth with a mighty roar by way of prelude to his day’s work, and forthwith a wild yak rolled down the cliff overhanging his den, killed from fright at the sound. When the leopard returned and saw the dead dong, the ass said he had killed it, and stuck out his tongue, smeared with blood, in proof of his prowess.

The leopard believed him, and promised to help him when the time came. One day he told him to go and graze in the meadow on the other side of the hill. When the ass had eaten his fill he brayed twenty or thirty times in sheer wantonness, and the leopard thinking his friend in trouble, ran to his rescue, but the ass told him he was only braying for pleasure. A little while after a pack of wolves attacked the ass, when he brayed loudly, calling his friend to his help; but the leopard thought that he was only amusing himself, and did not go to his rescue, and the ass was torn to pieces by the wolves.

On the 7th of the eighth moon (June 23) a grand military review was held at Shigatse, when more than a thousand soldiers were present, and there was a sham fight in the presence of the general. There are two reviews (mag chyang) every year, one in summer, the other in winter; and besides these there is one whenever the Amban visits Shigatse on a tour of inspection.

On June 29 the summer prayer ceremony (or monlam) was celebrated. All the monks of Tashilhunpo, some three thousand odd, assembled at Chyag-tsal-gang. A satin wall or gyabyal, 1000 feet in circumference, was erected, and inside it was a great State canopy, under which the Panchen rinpoche’s throne was placed. He was unable to be present, but his stole and mitre were put on the throne, and round it thronged the lamas in order of precedence and rank. The people of Shigatse were there, some under tents, others under bowers of cypress and willow branches, all amusing themselves